NEUTRON
REVERSAL
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Vol. LXXXVIII, No. 148
Ann'Arbor; Michigan-Thursday, April 6, 1978,
Ten Cents
12 Pages Plus Supplement
NEW COUNTY FACILITY UNIQUE
This prison has no bars
By MARTHA RETALLICK
Live plants flourish in several pots around the lobby,.
thanks to the sunshine that pours in through the skylight. In
the back of the carpeted room are three bright orange
couches where a waiting visitor can sit and read the latest
copy of Sports Illustrated. Only the sheriff's cadet uniform on
the smiling young woman behind the desk gives any hint that
this is the lobby in the new Washtenaw County Jail.
It certainly doesn't look like a jail. Wall-to-wall carpeting
covers the floors in the six cellblocks. In fact, just about the
only place in the building that isn't carpeted is the gym-
nasium floor.
Bright supergraphics adorn the walls throughout the
facility and each cellblock has its own theme colors, ranging
from green and orange in one of the male prisoners' blocks to
black and gray in maximum security.
ANYONE LOOKING FOR bars on the windows will be
disappointed-there aren't any. - Since the jail is air-
conditioned, none of its outside windows can be opened and
the glass itself is impact-resistant so a prisoner literally can-
not break out of jail.
Some consider the $10-million facility which features such
amenities as a complete medical unit with X-ray and dental
facilities, a nursery area for visiting children and a bathtub
in the women's cellblock too lavish for a jail. But the
building's ever-present surveillance system with its closed-
circuit TV cameras and intercoms reminds the visitor that it
is still a jail.
And the prisoner in his or her single cell with its stainless
steel-sink and toilet across from the small wooden desk finds
that the electrically-operated door closes behind him with the
same metallic "thunk" of any other cell door.
Even though the jail was officialy dedicated on March 28,
construction workers are still scurrying around the building,
putting the finishing touches on the communications and
electrical systems. Prisoners from the old county jail on
West Ann St. currently occupy only one cellblock in the new
facility. Jail Administrator Mike Montgomery says he
doesn't know when the rest of the county's 180 prisoners can
be transferred to the new building on Hogback Rd. in Pit-
tsfield Township.
LAST MONTH COUNTY officials expressed fears that the
new jail would not be big enough to hold all the county's
prisoners. The county was even planning to keep the old jail
open tohandle the overflow from the new 230-inmate facility.
But now Montgomery says the county's fears about over-
crowding at the new jail are "a dead issue." The County
Board of Commissioners wants to tear the old jail down and
build a parking lot in its place, and Montgomery said the oft-
overcrowded building will most likely "fall by fall."
"We just didn't want the county to tear the jail down im-
mediately," he said. The Board of Commissioners has yet to
decide when it wants the old building razed.
. -
i
WASHTENAW COUNTY JAIL Administrator Mike
are out, but break-proof glass keeps the prisoners in.
Daily Photo by JOHN KNO-
Montgomneiy stands outside a cell 'in the new detention facility. Bars
Don't scrap neutron bomb,
committee members tell Carter
WASHINGTON (AP) - Leaders of
the House Armed Services Committee
have drafted a letter to be sent to
President Carter arguing against any
decision to stop production of the
neutron bomb, it was learned yester-
day.
Signers of the 1%'-page letter include
Rep. Melvin Price .(D-Ill.), who is
chairman of the committee, and Rep.
Bob Wilson of California, the commit-
tee's ranking Republican, sources said.
MEANWHILE, THE West German
government yesterday refused to
publicly endorse the neutron bomb
despite speculation that Foreign
Minister Hans-Dietrich. Genscher had
urged President Carter not to reject the
)x weapon.
25 Sources said Tuesday that President
Carter tentatively had decided against
producing neutron warheads. But
congressional leaders attending a
White House breakfast yesterday said
Carter told them the weapon was still
under consideration.
Later, White House press secretary
Jody Powell told reporters Carter has
made no "final decision on the neutron
bomb. Reports to the contrary are sim-
ply erroneous."
THE LETTER drafted by the
leaders of the House committee
"protests and urges the president not to
make that decision" to scrap the bomb,
Wilson said.
Others who reportedly had signed the
letter by late yesterday included Reps.
Bob Carr (D-Mich.), Samuel Stratton
(D-N.Y.), Charles Wilson (D-Cali.),
Marjorie Holt (R-Md.) and G.V. Mont-
gomery (D-Miss.).
The neutron bomb is a nuclear
weapon designed to inflict battlefield
casualties with radiation while limiting
blast damage. Although it is referred to
as a bomb, the weapon is designed for
use as a warhead for the 81-mile range
Lance missile and for howitzer shells
that can be fired a distance of 10 to 12
miles.
THE U.S. MILITARY has called the
neutron bomb weapon an equalizer
against the possibility of a tank attack
in central Europe, where the Russians
have an estimated 3-to-2 tank advan-
tage. The weapon would kill invading
tank crews with radiation, while saving
civilian lives and property on the
periphery of the battlefield, itssuppor-
ters say.
Opponents of the weapon contend it
could make it easier to use nuclear ar-
ms in a European conflict. ,
Defense Secretary Harold Brown, in
a speech yesterday, gave no hint as to
the direction he expects Carter to take,
but said that "from a purely military
point of view, the neutron warhead
wolald upgrade NATO's ability to
defend against a Soviet tank attack." r
AMONG THOSE attending the
leadership breakfast was House
Speaker Thomas O'Neill, who said
nautron warhead production was
discussed at the breakfast.
O'Neill said Carter is waiting} to get
the views of NATO countries where the
weapon would be deployed before
making a decision.
Rep. Price urged Carter to use the
neutron bomb as a bargaining chip in the
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks.
"OUR FEELING is this is a very
valuable asset to us and it should not be
scrapped by us without a quid pro quo
from the Soviets," the Armed Services
Committee chairman said. "I don't
think we should give it away."
A similar sentiment was voiced by
Sen. John Towersranking Republican
on the Senate Armed Services Commit-
tee.
"Any decision against production and
deployment of this weapon is not only a
See DON'T, Page 5
Daily Photo by JOHN KNO
DETROIT RECORDER'S Court Judge Justin Ravitz spoke to a crowd of about 12
at MLB last night. "I wouldn't be here tonight if I didn't think we have the co
lective capacity to build a socialist movement that will work," Ravitz said.'
Marxist judge favors
court system reform
Senate: House can't
By LEONARD BERNSTEIN
Justin Ravitz, America's first elected
Marxist judge, last night told aUniver-
sity audience that fundamental social
change is needed to reform the nation's
legal system.
Ravitz delivered this year's final
Viewpoint lecture to some 125 people in
the Modern Languages Building.
"UNTIL WE ALTER fundamentally
the nature of the system, we're not
going to alter these problems," he said.
Ravitz expressed doubt about the
recent "euphoria on part of spokesper-
sons analyzing the judiciary in
Detroit."
"We were I treated to masive
headlines the other day about crime
reduction in Detroit," he said. "But
that doesn't mean a hell of a lot to the
487 corpses who were homicide victims
in Detroit in 1977,",he added.
IN A HUMOROUS but direct style,
Ravitz criticized a recent Supreme
Court ruling which granted a judge
immunity from civil suit in a case
where he ordered a young girl's
sterilization without a hearing at her
mother's request.
Ravtiz said the judge should "suffer
the consequences a fair and thinking
society would allow.
"Not so, says the United States
Supreme Court, where five absurd
jurists protected their colleague," he
said.
RAVITZ ALSO condemned recent
See RAVITZ, Page 2
A
Th ursday
* A local man is trying to
patent a new execution dev ice -
the airbag. See story, Page 2.
" A onetime campaign aide to a
North Carolina congressman
says she picked up $10,000 in cash
for her boss from Korean rice
dealer Tongsun Park. See story.
Page 5.
For happenings, weather
and local briefs,
see TODAY, page 3.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate
set a date for itg final showdown vote on
the Panama Canal treaty yesterday,
while dealing treaty foes an unexpec-
tedly sharp defeat on a move to give the
House priequal voice in the issue.
Leaders of the pro and anti-treaty
factions agreed to put the second of the
two pacts to a vote on April 18. That
means the Senate will have only nine
working days to consider amendments
and reservations before taking a final
vote on the issue.
PREVIOUSLY the Senate had set a
deadline of April 26 for the ratification
test. But with the debate already two,
months old, Senate leaders and anti-
treaty strategists acknowledged a need
to bring the issue to a conclusion. )
On a surprisingly wide margin of 58 to
vote on ca
ntl treaty
37, the Senate killed an amendment by
Sen. Orrin Hatch (RUtah) that would
have allowed the House to vote on the
treaty, on' grounds the Constitution
requires the full Congress to approve
any disposal of U.S. property.
Later it rejected another amendment
by Sen. James Allen (D-Ala.) to
guarantee the jobs of U.S. employees of
the Panama Canal Co. until retirement
age. That vote was 56 to 37.
The secret is out: Vice Pres-
ident Walter Mondale will be
the keynote speaker at corm-
nencenent exercises on April
29 at Crisler A rena.
DESPITE THE decisive edge by
which his proposal lost, Hatch claimed
a "major victory" on a test of strength
for the treaty.
Hatch said it showed that more than a
third of the Senate recognized the
"serious constitutional question"
See HOUSE, Page 2
-...m/
Bursley board
mnembers stand
By DAVE RENBARGER
At their regularly scheduled meeting last night, mem-
bers of Bursley's Board of Governors openly admitted to
the purchase of $200 of marijuana for use at an all-dorm par-
ty last Friday night.
Facing a gathering of about 60 predominantly disap-
proving residents, the Board members, for the most part,
stood behind their decision. One governor, Eric Wilson, cited
the purchase as a "moral issue."
"I DON'T believe that pot should be illegal," said Wilson.
"I knew that I was breaking the law when I did it, but I feel
that I should stand up for what I believe in even if I have to go
to jail for 20 years."
A major concern voiced by many residents was the
likelihood of any future dorm parties.
"THINGS ARE really going to be messed up for next
I I
II
Program keeps dancers 4
an their .toe
By JODI STOLOVE
There are no chalkboards in this classroom, no
cushioned chairs to doze in or desks to scribble on. In
fact, there are no seats at all.
The students in these rooms don't slouch back and
absorb a professor's lecture. Instead, their instructors
put them through 90 minutes of highly demanding par-
ticipation which pushes them to the limits 9f physical
and mental endurance.
They are dance students, members of one of the
smallest, most select departments at the University. In
their home, the University Dance Building behind the
Central Campus Recreation Building, group members
not only discipline themselves in the rudiments of dan-
ce technique, but also study and explore such fields as
kinesiology, theater production, dance history, music,
art and improvisation.
THE DANCE program is highly concentrated.
Students are generally on the dance floor about four
hours a day and their creative training is woven into
the fabric of more traditional University academics.
Students leave the University with a degree from the'
School of Art or Education.
But despite the incentive of a degree, some of the
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